Darkness Falls is a 2003horror film written by Joe Harris and John Fasano and directed by Jonathan Liebesman. The score was composed by Brian Tyler. Although criticized, Darkness Falls opened No. 1 at the US box office and recouped its $11 million budget in its opening weekend on January 24, 2003 making $32,551,396 domestically and $47,488,536 internationally.

The creature design and story was recognized as having potential; however, with lack of funding and studio influence on the film, it turned out to be somewhat a failure with audiences. The film also debuted the band Vixtrola with their single Gunboat at the end of the film.

Plot

The story of the town Darkness Falls, (which is based on the town of Port Fairy, Australia) begins 150 years ago.

In 1827, a small group of people settled around a bay; among them was a newly wed couple, Sonny and Matilda Dixon. The town soon began to grow due to its fast developing fishing industry. Local stores began to spring up, and people started to cultivate the land.

However, in 1836, tragedy struck the small town when Sonny Dixon was killed in a fishing accident, leaving his wife Matilda a widow. After her husband's death, Matilda became very close to the town's children. She would tell them stories, and give them gifts and gold coins when they lost a tooth, thus earning the name “Tooth Fairy.”

One night, two of the town’s boys go missing, and they quickly blame Matilda. She was arrested and hanged with her mask removed. Soon afterwards, the two missing boys returned home unharmed, and the town realized its grave mistake. A massive cover-up of the murder soon followed, and Matilda’s body was buried.

A year later, the first of many strange occurrences began. In 1842, the supply of whales and seals vanished from the sea; only their bones were left on East Beach. Freak storms began to terrorize the town and often resulted in the sinking of fishing boats. The two children who Matilda ‘kidnapped’ left a suicide note at the town's lighthouse, and their bodies were never found.

Nearly 10 years later, the local cemetery was moved to make way for local expansion. During the move, Matilda’s body disappeared and was never seen again. Since then, children have mysteriously disappeared from Darkness Falls, never to be seen again. Some say they ran away, while others believe it is yet another chapter of the Tooth Fairy’s curse.

And so, the story of the Tooth Fairy was born. The vengeful spirit of Matilda Dixon would visit the home of children in Darkness Falls the night they lost their last baby tooth. If the child laid eyes on her, she would whisk them off and murder them. Her weakness in life remained with her in death; she had an extreme sensitivity to light.

One boy, Kyle Walsh, learns that the story is more than just a story the night he loses his last baby tooth. He finds it hard to fall asleep after hearing stories of Matilda, and takes a flashlight to bed with him. As he tries to sleep, he hears a raspy breath over his bed, and dares to open his eyes. He sees the masked face of Matilda herself. Scared, Kyle shines the flashlight into her eyes, causing her to recoil in pain. He runs out of his room to his mother, who assures him that there is nothing to be afraid of. As Kyle’s mother goes to investigate, she sees Matilda for herself, and is brutally murdered. Kyle, hearing his mother’s death, hides himself in the bathroom, with the lights on, preventing Matilda from reaching him. The next morning, the police show up and believe Kyle to have murdered his mother. They arrest him and take him away.

Years later, Kyle has left Darkness Falls and moved to Las Vegas; a city where the lights never turn off. He always carries a bag of flashlights and lanterns with him in fear of Matilda finishing what was started many years before.
After an old childhood friend, Caitlin Greene, calls to ask for his help with her younger brother, Michael, who also seems to have survived an encounter with the Tooth Fairy. Michael, like Kyle, now has a gripping fear of the dark, and is thought to have gone insane. Kyle returns, knowing that Michael is not crazy, and tries to help him. Since two people have now escaped from Matilda’s wrath, it has caused her to become more active; revealing herself to dozens of people, and killing them all in her quest to get Kyle and Michael.

Kyle, Michael, and Caitlin now must escape from Darkness Falls while avoiding the darkness until morning, just as one of the freak storms knocks out all the lights in the town.

Soon the storm hits the village with a loud bang and wallop and almost every light in the village is turned out. The last remaining light is only that of the Light House situated at the far coast of the village. There they illuminate the big lantern in an attempt to destroy Matilda. She catches Kyle and picks him up, and he accidentally kicks out one side of the light. She tries repeatedly to attack him in between flashes of the light. He finally rips her mask off and lights his shirt sleeve on fire by putting it very close to the very hot light. He puts it to her head, igniting her and turning her into a fireball. As she catches fire, her spirit is destroyed forever.